1. Seminole Club Scholarships
and the FSU Gift Agreement Process
Perry T. Fulkerson
Vice President, Central Development
Florida State University Foundation
2. Seminole Club gift agreements
What gift agreements do
• Mostly, gift agreements are used to
manage charitable contributions in
dedicated endowment funds.
• They are important because
endowments are in perpetuity but
people come and go
• Whoever manages and/or distributes
funds needs direction
3. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• The parties are identified
– The Donors (a Seminole Club, for example)
– The Donee (FSU Foundation which manages
the university’s academic endowment)
– The beneficiary unit (Alumni Association)
– The University
• The purpose of the Fund is described
– “Much needed scholarship support for individual
students from Orange, Osceola …”
4. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Contribution schedule
– How the money will be contributed (gift
agreement), or …
– How the money was contributed (fund
agreement)
• Clubs and others have a right at any
time to add to an endowment fund by
outright gift or bequest
5. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Recipient selection criteria defined
– Such as …
• Geographic area
• Acceptance to FSU as a full-time undergraduate
• Volunteer work
• An essay about why FSU and how a scholarship helps
• Letter of recommendation (not from a relative)
• High school transcripts
– But not such things as “make and model of car”
– Either just financial need or a balanced approach
6. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Recipient selection process defined
– Ideally every club should have a scholarship
committee of no fewer than 5 members
– Applicants should apply to the club whose
scholarship committee reviews applications,
notifies Alumni Association of recipients
– The process must be fair and unbiased
• If a committee member recognizes a relative
among applicants, he or she should recuse
himself or herself from the process
7. Seminole Club gift agreements
What’s in a gift agreement?
• Signatures
– Donor (Seminole Club President)
– Person administering fund (Alumni Association
President)
– If under $100,000
• Donee (Executive Vice President of the Foundation)
– If over $100,000
• University President
• VP for Advancement
• University General Counsel
8. Seminole Club gift agreements
Consistency is important
• Wide variety of inconsistent MOUs and
agreements with Seminole Clubs
– Varying formats and content
– Varying selection criteria and processes
• Some refer to non-existent offices or
committees
– “The South Florida Office” of FSU
– “The University Scholarship Committee”
10. Seminole Club gift agreements
Standardizing
• In recent years, the Foundation has standardized
the gift agreement process and developed
templates for most gift situations
• We will work with the Alumni Association to develop
a standard Seminole Club gift agreement template
• We will work closely with each club to develop their
unique scholarship agreements based on the new
template